Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star India Ink (Matte) Ink Bottle, 1.0 oz, Matte Black, 1 Bottle

I'm a professional illustrator and visual art educator, specializing in drawing: I've worked with pens and pencils for over forty years. For my purposes, this ink is far and away the best India ink I've found for use with a dip pen. It's very liquid, so it flows nicely across paper surfaces. I use a variety of substrates, so it's important to have a bottle of ink on my drawing table that isn't clumpy or sticky - especially upon drying. This ink dries surprisingly quickly, and is quite opaque and matte upon drying. If I fill a large shape using a brush, there are few, if any, marks that show... I really appreciate the graphic quality of a solid, opaque black. Dry marks just look amateurish - the finish of this ink is very professional. The best surfaces for my use of this India ink are 100# Strathmore Smooth Bristol Board and other smooth or plate papers. It's also quite waterproof upon drying. If the illustration I'm working on requires washes of watercolor or other watermedia, some inks reactivate and pollute the bright or light colors with puddles of leaky black ink. Not this stuff! Once it's dry, it stays put and does NOT reactivate. That means it's easy to erase pencil construction lines. And washes of color go down cleanly.

It's lightfast, archival, and waterproof when dry. It's a really nice dark black that has a lovely matte finish (no glare); you can also dilute with water if you wish to work in layers. The ink has great flow and is fairly dense compared to other india inks, though for really large areas of black, windsor newton gouache is still best in terms of consistency. Dr Martins makes three types of black india ink: 1. Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star HiCarb India Ink 2. Dr Martins Black Star India Ink Matte 3. Dr Martins Bombay Black India ink The HiCarb version is the darkest and also dries matte (it's also available on amazon). The Bombay line also has a good assortment of other colors so you can do layered transparency washes with ease, but I like its black the least out of the three. I purchased a bottle of Black Star India Ink (matte) for $12 on amazon though you can find it for less -- for example, Art Supply Warehouse currently sells it for $6.65 per bottle, even cheaper in bulk. It's also available in bottles of 8 and 32 oz. It is a rarer ink, not one that many art or craft stores commonly carry. For black and color, another good line of inks to consider is the Daler-Rowney FW acrylic artists paint. The colors are very vibrant and you can work with great subtlety, layering transparent non-water soluble layers for added depth.

This ink is super black, dries relatively fast. Even it being my first time using ink like this, first time using a dip pen, I didn't smudge a thing on the page, so that's a win for me. The best part is when it does dry, (quickly, i may add) erasing the pencil doesn't lighten up like Microns do. I heard the angels singing as I erased the underlying graphite. Still as black as my soul. I'm really happy I chose this ink, and I cant wait to make more awesome things with it. The matte finish is also just beautiful, should do well for scans too. I purchased this ink because I believe illustrator Yuko Shimizu uses it, and I thought if she chose it then it must be good. I was not disappointed!

Great ink, super black and dries to a flat matte finish. Works amazing on paper and Bristol, although it takes forever to dry. On ampersand clayboard it puddles and cracks; if you use it on clayboard then I would use a brush. I find it a bit too fluid for technical pens.

Real nice color dries quickly and has a deep nice color

A great Matte ink that performs just like it is supposed to. P.H. Martin’s hits it out of the park with every product they have. Consistency is key and they have it. Waterproof and great with watercolors, acrylic, line work, sketching and more.

I found out about this brand and this specific matte black Black Star formula around 2013 or so. It instantly became my favorite ink to use. I wish I could fill all of my pens with this ink it's so good. I stopped drawing in ink for a while and when I picked it back up again I bought different brands of India Ink. I still regret wasting money on those other brands. After my disappointment with the other inks I decided to give old faithful a try and I'm happier than ever with my ink drawings. What I really love is just how dark the pigment is. It dries quickly and I like to give it a little while to cure before going over it with other wet mediums. But after 10-15 minutes of curing (maybe 30-45 if you're heavy handed or have large inked in areas), you can dump as much watercolor or ink-wash on it as you want and it will stay put! Glides smooth over surfaces and truly dries matte. I use this with brushes as well as dip pens and it doesn't clog up the nibs. If leftover ink dries on the nib, it easily comes off with water and a rag, or you can just very lightly scrape it off if you have no respect for yourself like me. It's also just washed out of the brushes I use with it after a normal brush cleaning. I wish I could buy giant bottles of this ink! Highly recommend!

I use Dr. Martin’s Radiant watercolors and love them so I thought I’d give this ink a try after being disappointed by the Speedball brand. These inks are great! They’re blacker than black a.k.a. awesome and are for really real waterproof as advertised! They also do well with markers! 10/10 recommend. P.s. I use them with a Nikko G-nib. Haven’t tried them with any brushes yet.

Une encre bien noir qui sèche mat. Il faut que je pousse un peu les tests, mais pour un premier essai je suis très contente.

I have been trying out various black inks in my search for the blackest ink I can find. This is pretty good, an attractive cool satin black. For line drawing it looks much like any other black ink. When brushing, it is a lovely deep black, far blacker than Pelikan or Higgins ink. (I haven't compared it to W&N yet). However, where it really shines is when playing with wet on wet drawing. The ink blooms much more extensively and beautifully than my other inks when applied to wet paper, forming an even matt surface with a slight satin sheen. It also dries quickly. If you are looking for a particularly matt ink, I'm not sure this is it. When brushing out to large areas of black, it covers well but has a distinct sheen. If I want a matt surface, I now use Kuretake Zig Cartoonist ink.

Ich bin sehr positiv von dieser Tinte überrascht worden. Ich habe damit ein Bild gemalt und die Tinte, um unterschiedliche Grautöne zu erhalten mit Wasser vermischt. Sie trocknet sehr schön schnell und auch nach dem wieder anfeuchten bleibt alles dort wo es bleiben soll. Besonders gut hat mir gefallen wie ergiebig diese Tinte ist. Ich hab ein komplettes DIN A4 Bild mit nur 3 halben Tropfen geinkt...alles top

Ottimo il prodotto

Es un producto magnífico, cubre superficies perfectamente y tiene una densidad perfecta para trabajar con pinceles de buena cálida y caligrafía. La He usado para crear Teselas para Zentangle (dibujo meditativo) y estas fotos muestran el resultado. Totalmente recomendable.